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Full Description
Despite the prejudices of critics, popular romance fiction remains a complex, dynamic genre. It consistently maintains the largest market share in the American publishing industry, even as it welcomes new subgenres like queer and BDSM romance. Digital publishing originated in erotic romance, and savvy online communities have exploded myths about the genre's readership. Romance scholarship now reflects this diversity, transformed by interdisciplinary scrutiny, new critical approaches, and an unprecedented international dialogue between authors, scholars, and fans. These eighteen essays investigate individual romance novels, authors, and websites, rethink the genre's history, and explore its interplay of convention and originality. By offering new twists in enduring debates, this collection inspires further inquiry into the emerging field of popular romance studies.
Contents
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction: New Approaches to Popular Romance Fiction
—ERIC MURPHY SELINGER AND SARAH S.G. FRANTZ
Part One: Close Reading the Romance
1. "Bertrice teaches you about history, and you don't even mind!": History and Revisionist Historiography in Bertrice Small's The Kadin
—HSU- MING TEO
2. How to Read a Romance Novel (and Fall in Love with Popular Romance)
—ERIC MURPHY SELINGER
3. "How we love is our soul": Joey W. Hill's BDSM Romance Holding the Cards
—SARAH S.G. FRANTZ
4. On Popular Romance, J.R. Ward, and the Limits of Genre Study
—MARY BLY
Part Two: Convention and Originality
5. Loving by the Book: Voice and Romance Authorship
—AN GORIS
6. The "Managing Female" in the Novels of Georgette Heyer
—K. ELIZABETH SPILLMAN
7. One Ring to Bind Them: Ring Symbolism in Popular Romance Fiction
—LAURA VIVANCO
8. The More the Merrier? Transformations of the Love Triangle Across the Romance
—CAROLE VELDMAN- GENZ
9. "Why would any woman want to read such stories?": The Distinctions Between Genre Romances and Slash Fiction
—DEBORAH KAPLAN
Part Three: Love and Strife
10. Borderlands of Desire: Captivity, Romance, and the Revolutionary Power of Love
—ROBIN HARDERS
11. Patriotism, Passion, and PTSD: The Critique of War in Popular Romance Fiction
—JAYASHREE KAMBLE
12. Straight to the Edges: Gay and Lesbian Characters and Cultural Conflict in Popular Romance Fiction
—KATHLEEN THERRIEN
13. "You call me a bitch like that's a bad thing": Romance Criticism and Redefining the Word "Bitch"
—SARAH WENDELL
Part Four: Readers, Authors, Communities
14. The Interactive Romance Community: The Case of "Covers Gone Wild"
—MIRIAM GREENFELD- BENOVITZ
15. Happy Readers or Sad Ones? Romance Fiction and the Problems of the Media Effects Model
—GLEN THOMAS
16. "A consummation devoutly to be wished": Shakespeare in Popular Historical Romance Fiction
—TAMARA WHYTE
17. The Power of Three: Nora Roberts and Serial Magic
—CHRISTINA A. VALEO
Works Cited
About the Contributors
Index
